A court in the Bahamas dismissed a rape case Monday against a Florida International baseball star Garrett Wittels and two friends who were accused of sexually assaulting two American teens after a night of drinking at an island resort. (June 20)
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enlarge Sometimes it’s useful to take a peak at what the Republican Party is doing in the states just so can get a preview of what they’ll do should they regain both the Senate and the White House in 2012. Sure, we all know about the very ugly fight the Wisconsin GOP has picked by denying public-sector unions the right to collectively bargain for better wages and benefits. But as the Wisconsin senate recall elections loom next month, the state party is also plowing ahead trying to pass the most obscene ideological horsecrap they can before democracy rides into the rescue. I mean, just look at this : Republican lawmakers voted Tuesday to trim taxes for corporations and investors while further cutting tax credit programs for the working poor. The Joint Finance Committee also voted to shut down two youth correctional institutions and repeal early-release provisions for state prisoners. The pair of 12-4 party-line votes came as the powerful committee entered a marathon week of work that could stretch into Saturday as GOP lawmakers strive to approve the budget by the end of June. The bill must still be approved by both houses of the Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker. The committee also made changes to taxes on moist snuff tobacco, the state’s system for distributing beer and a child care program for the poor. When reading stuff like this I actually wish that Republicans really did ask themselves, “What would Jesus do?” I mean, yes, you can argue based on the New Testament that Jesus would have probably been a staunch foe of legalized abortion. But if anyone of these guys had ever read the Bible at all — and I was raised Christian so I know what I’m talking about here — they would know that Jesus would similarly disapprove of taking away resources from poor people to fund another tax cut for rich people. “What would Jesus do?” you ask. My hope is that He will float down from the sky, land on top of the Madison Capitol building and shout out, “What the hell do you crazy-assed crackers think you’re doing in My name?” But since I’ve learned recently that betting on the Rapture occurring is a bad business move, I doubt we’ll ever see this happen. Of course, while the GOP is making big spending cuts for anti-poverty programs, there is one level of government spending they’re more than happy to increase: Vos said Republicans would include ending early release for prisoners as part of the budget. Republicans say higher spending on prisons was justified, saying a prison building boom in Wisconsin in the 1990s has helped lower crime rates since then. I mean for God’s sake. Forget asking what Jesus would do, it’s like the Wisconsin GOP gathered around in a circle, sacrificed a goat, raised Satan through a pentagram and said, “What would you wish of us, Dark Lord?” Let’s recap exactly what the Wisconsin GOP is proposing here: Taking away collective bargaining rights from workers. Giving Corporate America another tax cut. Cutting important anti-poverty programs. Increasing spending on prisons to keep all of the wicked looters off the streets so their very presence won’t offend the delicate sensibilities of our corporate masters. I’m really hard-pressed to think of any system of morality where all of these actions are considered a net plus. It’s like the GOP read Foucault’s “Discipline and Punish” and thought, “Hey, this Panopticism thing sounds super sweet!” But wait! There’s more : The state budget bill now in Gov. Scott Walker’s hands would leave schools with roughly $900 million less in state aid and property tax authority over the next two years, state figures show. Going beyond simple cuts in state aid to schools, the budget bill would also end up requiring many districts – perhaps two-thirds of them statewide – to cut their property tax levies, according to one analysis by a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor. Aaaaah, cutting school budgets! What would a GOP budget plan look like without that? After all, why do Wisconsin’s children need an education when they have a terrific career lined up for them stamping license plates in prison? I’ve been trying for a long time to think of what America will look like if the GOP completely gets its way. I tried to imagine what the country would look if there were no labor laws, if there were no environmental protections and if corporations could simply run amok and trample people with impunity. Oh, and of course there would have to be well-funded prison system to keep the plebs in check. Then it occurred to me: The GOP watches Blade Runner and sees its ideal society: Behold, paradise! Anyway, I’d like to ask y’all to make a donation to the Wisconsin recall effort if you can. The Wisconsin GOP needs to be punished for the crime of being evil SOBs. Throwing them out of office is the very least they deserve.
Continue reading …Robert Ross, Music Producer, Claims He Was Kidnapped Due To Shaquille O’Neal Sex Tape
June 20, 2011 No Comment
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles music producer testified that gang members kidnapped him in 2008 and told him the reason was an “issue” with Shaquille O’Neal and his business partner, according to transcripts from a preliminary criminal hearing. In the transcripts, producer Robert Ross – who has claimed the attack came because he said he had a sex tape featuring O’Neal – testified that his kidnappers beat him and demanded a “videotape.” Excerpts from the Monday preliminary hearing for seven gang members accusing of kidnapping, robbery, assault and conspiracy in the attack on Ross appeared early Sunday on the Los Angeles Times’ website. Ross testified that at one point he had a tape from his home security system of then-NBA star O’Neal having sex with a woman, but it had been recorded over. Asked by a prosecutor if he really had such a video at the time of the attack, Ross replied, “It was over. It was gone.” O’Neal and business partner Mark Stevens have denied involvement in statements to investigators, and neither has been charged or named in the criminal complaint. Attorney Nicholas Tonsich, who represented O’Neal and Stevens, did not immediately responded to a phone message left early Sunday morning by The Associated Press. According to a sheriff’s report, Ross told investigators he was kidnapped at gunpoint by Main Street Crips gang members in West Hollywood in February 2008 and taken to the home of the gang’s alleged leader Ladell Rowles. He said the gang members beat him, stole $15,000 in cash and some jewelry. He said another of the defendants, James Harbin, told him he needed to clear up an “issue” with O’Neal and Stevens, and threatened him. Ross’ testimony is scheduled to continue on July 6. O’Neal retired this month after 19 seasons, several of them with the Los Angeles Lakers.
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A few months ago, Cedar Cove Feline Conservancy & Education Center released this adorable video of one of its lions sleeping on top of senior handler Steve Klein, but it’s only just now made its way onto the viral video juggernaut. Which is good news, since the organization is hoping to use videos like this to raise awareness and money to save our endangered big cats. Of course, that’s not why we’re posting this. We’re posting it because, “OMG, giant, adorable kitty!” WATCH: Via Viral Viral Videos
Continue reading …European finance officials ramped up pressure today on Greece, delaying their decision on whether to release the next $17 billion in rescue loans to the debt-laden country. Officials indicated the next installment of emergency loans would be disbursed in July, but only if Greece enacts controversial new austerity measures including…
Continue reading …Charitable giving increased last year as the economy improved, rising 3.8% to $290.89 billion, up from $280.3 billion in 2009. “There was a lot more optimism, all relative, in 2010,” says an analyst. “People are still generous despite uncertainty, despite not having jobs, and despite confusion about…
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Ex-South African president Thabo Mbeki helps secure agreement which will allow Ethiopian peacekeeping force role Leaders from north and south Sudan signed an agreement in Ethiopia on Monday to demilitarise the disputed central region of Abyei and allow an Ethiopian peacekeeping force to move in. The former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, who is helping to lead peace talks, said the agreement provided for the full demilitarisation of the fertile region near oilfields that both north and south claim as their own. Troops from northern Sudan moved into the region last month, resulting in the exodus of tens of thousands of people aligned with the south. “The Sudan armed forces will pull out and will be deployed outside Abyei,” said Mbeki. The agreement comes three weeks before the south is set to secede from the north and create the world’s newest country. Heavy violence has broken out along the north-south border in the runup to the south’s independence declaration. The United Nations security council will decide at a meeting in New York what the size of the Ethiopian force will be and what action it will be mandated to take. Shortly after the agreement was reached, Mbeki told the UN in a video conference that both parties wanted the UN to move quickly to see the agreement implemented. Mbeki said urgent action would allow the displaced people of Abyei to return after military forces left, allowing the humanitarian situation to be addressed. Mbeki said: “It will also bring to an end this threat of violence, and actual violence in the area, so we are really hoping that [the] security council will look at this agreement as early as possible and take all the necessary decisions so that the various provisions in the agreement can be implemented.” Tens of thousands of people fled Abyei after northern troops moved in last month. More recently, tens of thousands of people aligned with the south have fled attacks by the northern military in the state of South Kordofan. Talks on the violence in that region are set to begin on Tuesday. The civil war in Sudan lasted decades and resulted in about two million deaths. It ended with a 2005 peace deal that gave the south the right to hold a self-determination vote. The region voted overwhelmingly in January to secede, but the north and south have yet to work out all the details. Pagan Amam, the leader of the southern delegation, said the south was happy with the agreement, particularly the part calling for the withdrawal of northern forces from Abyei. Sudan Africa Ethiopia Thabo Mbeki guardian.co.uk
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New duty of candour to be written into third-party NHS provider contracts following government’s ‘listening exercise’ The Department of Health has published its full response to last week’s NHS Future Forum report , accepting many of the forum’s recommendations and introducing a drive for transparency that will require hospitals to admit errors. A written ministerial statement said hospitals would have a new “duty of candour”, requiring them to tell patients when they had made mistakes – a key demand from the “listening exercise”. Providers of NHS services would have the duty written into their contracts in a drive to increase transparency. The government has moved to eliminate the chances for “cherry-picking”, whereby private providers seek to take on the most profitable operations. Royal colleges – professional bodies for health professionals – would be enlisted to develop safeguards to eliminate this. The document added to the modifications the government had already said it would make to the controversial health and social care bill, including watering down requirements on competition . Having resolved major differences between the coalition partners, the government hopes the bill will clear the House of Commons before the summer recess, and go to the Lords early in the autumn. High profile Liberal Democrats, such as former MP Dr Evan Harris, have voiced continuing concerns about the new direction of the bill. They have three concerns that could threaten a new rebellion like the one that saw the Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, forced to insist on a pause in the bill’s progress. Harris has highlighted the danger of essential NHS services being undermined by large numbers of more straightforward cases – and the income that goes with them – being farmed out to private or third sector providers, leaving more expensive A&E or intensive care units unviable. “The NHS doesn’t need any favours on a level playing field, but in the end it has to provide these emergency and rescue services and it can’t do that in a free market,” Harris said. A second concern is the potential for clinical commissioning groups to outsource work to private companies with vested interests, beyond the scope of full public scrutiny. Harris is also concerned that the government is still only placing a responsibility on the secretary of state to have a “duty to promote” rather than the stronger duty to “provide or secure the provision of” a comprehensive NHS service. The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said the response to the report built on changes already agreed to the health bill. The government has said doctors and nurses will be involved in planning and buying care, while a 2013 deadline for commissioning consortiums to take on budgets has been scrapped and the NHS regulator, Monitor, now has a duty to promote the interest of patients when it comes to competition. Explaining the “duty of candour” principle, the response statement says: “We heard through the listening exercise the suggestion that we could strengthen transparency of organisations and increase patient confidence by introducing a ‘duty of candour’: a new contractual requirement on providers to be open and transparent in admitting mistakes. “We agree. This will be enacted through contractual mechanisms and therefore does not require amendments to the bill. We will set out more details about this shortly.” The “candour” pledge comes as new research suggested basic failures in co-ordinating care led to errors in medication and other forms of treatment. The study, published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, included 1,434 British patients. Some 9% reported medication or medical errors, with 23% saying poorly co-ordinated care was involved – increasing the likelihood of error by 160%. Lansley said: “We want to deliver continuous improvements in the quality of NHS care. Too often, data about what goes wrong in the NHS is not used to drive improvements. That’s why we are introducing a requirement on providers to be open and transparent in admitting mistakes. “In addition, we are asking foundation trusts to hold their board meetings in public. This will help to foster a culture of openness in the NHS and improve patient confidence. A transparent NHS is a safer NHS.” Have your say on our NHS reforms coverage Health policy NHS Health Andrew Lansley Public services policy Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk
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‘Jackass’ cast member Ryan Dunn died early Monday of injuries sustained in a fiery car crash, and speed may have been a factor, police said. (June 20)
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